Particles & Fields: QM and Charged Particles

[Wizardsblade]

I was wondering according to QM do charged particles creat fields, do fields create charged particles, or are they considered one in the same (not cause-effect)?

 

[wangyi]

I think this is not a QM question, but rather a question of classic EM theory. Envolving QM into it does not make any difference. But as the two always appear together, and we can not create a single charged particle from vacuum and watch it creating fields, although I take fields as a effect of charged particles, I have no good reason to give you.

But in QFT, things changes a little. The basic thing is interaction photon and electron fields, so a electron created by a electron field interchanges photon, as an interaction, with other charged particles.

I hope this is in some sense of help. Happy new year:)

 

[samalkhaiat]

I

was wondering according to QM do charged particles creat fields, do fields create charged particles, or are they considered one in the same (not cause-effect)?

Hi,
This is an Egg-Chicken problem!
We define each one in terms of the other. However, charged particle can not detach itself from it's field (you cann't see a charged particle without it's field). But (here comes the important bit), field can detach itself from it's source and propagate independetly, i.e. you can see field without seeing it's source, and this what light is.
For this reason (independent physical existence), we came to regard the concept of field as fundamental as that of ordinary matter.

regards

sam